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March 2012 Rocket Ship Ska Trip Archives

3/15 in a nutshell…
We’re back, and glad to be welcoming you aboard! The “Ooh” went time-hopping, starting off with some ’60s instros with “Ska” in the title, and winding up with Dr. Buzzard associate Gichy Dan and his Beachwood #9 outfit, after a glitchy detour through 2Tone which was simply… madness. Suggs & crew’s Prince Buster cover simply wouldn’t play straight through no matter which deck we fed it into, so Georgie Fame’s mid-60s remake had to get the job done. But hey_ how ‘bout that Gichy Dan! Meanwhile in the “Voov”, Sherwood dropped a cool, laid-back MFSB cut bearing the oddly-Kraftwerkian sounding title “Human Machine” for openers. A “curveballs” set involving “not THOSE” Scorpions, Eagles, or Crystals kicked off with… not THAT Fela! A Lionel Hampton/Shiina Ringo DJ mix played us into the 4:00 hour where the 4(+1)-in-a-row set was titled “Bad Boys, Rudies & Miscreants”. GotchaSKAvered fed us our first Hungarian “Lollipop”, we went juggling with TSPO, and we dug some more Dan (Gichy, not Steely) before winding up with a Mutant Frogs set… Ribbit, ribbit!

We did a few things more than once this week, ‘cuz next week we’re pre-empted by 24 hours’ worth of International Women’s Day specials. So… three “Do the Blue Beats” (and one “He Can’t Do the Blue Beat”) for your 4:00 4-in-a-row, two “Tu Sei Pallidos” (they’re Lollipops, and you’ve gotta hear Rita Pavone’s!), a C’est Toi Mon Idole (also a Lollipop) and mucho Ringrollage! Shiina’s band Tokyo Jihen have called it a career as of their final gig on Leap Day… meaning the 4th anniversary of the breakup will be in 16 years! But seriously, we’ll miss looking forward to new Jihen releases even as we eagerly anticipate wrapping our ears around numerous solo projects and collabs. The “Ooh” opened with a set of… you might say “newsworthy” Ska (check the non-reg playlist for “headlines”) and eventually progressed toward two Ska Twists. Sherwood’s set tells a proverbial thousand tales (including Teddy Charles’ vibraphonic jazz reading of Princess Scheherezade), and that should be enough to tide us over ‘til the 15th, when the Rocket Ship will once again be boarding skassengers. Bon voyage!

3/22 in a nutshell…
Real gone, man! Plus a peppering of Ska-Like from the likes of Frankie Ford and Duke Ellington, some Caltone reissues, and an unannounced back-to-back comparison of pre-Wailers Marley (Do You Still Love Me) and Derrick Morgan’s strikingly similar-sounding take on “By The Light of the Silvery Moon”, title shortened to “The Moon”. Past the “Ooh”, Sherwood B. Funn fills the Zero-G with everyone from Terry Snyder to David Carroll, from Zavier Cugat to Milton Banana… and he can’t resist some Ska when it’s Giuliano Palma doing Bond… James Bond! A Mutant Frogs set makes up the 4(+1)@4, Billie Tam straight outa HK’s gotchaSKAllipopped, and the spirit of King Stitt (r.i.p., King, we’ll miss ya!) chimes in. The Big ‘C’ claimed him on Jan. 31st, and we’ll mount a proper tribute next week… stay tuned.

3/29 in a nutshell…
This is a recap of RSST Pledge-Drive Style, week 1! On a sad note, we learned about two months late of the passing of pioneering toaster King Stitt, and we saluted him in the “Ooh” with a pair of selections he chatted ‘pon 10 years ago in Toronto at Legends Of Ska (THANKYOU General Moses for these historic live-DJ performances!), followed that up with Pledge Drive raps and a well-rounded set of classic ska. As we docked in orbit with the “Voov”, Sherwood gave us a heavy-on-the-female-vocal set encompassing Imelda May, Shiina Ringo, Pink Martini, Stereolab and Berthe Wilke. Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers (but minus Tom!) went undercover as a surf band (The Blue Stingrays), Cal Tjader cooled out and Tadd Dameron took us to the Casbah to boot! King Stitt got saluted some more in Hour 3, after Gila Adari’s GotchaSKAllipop and RSST’s FIRST-EVER 4:00 4(-1)-in-a-row! We simply forgot to play one of ‘em! To close the show out, a set of Ganja Ska led into a pair of Froggie bumpers, a Prizefighters track and a bit o’ Gichy Dan’s Beachwood #9 to take us out… we were so wrapped up in our pledge drive we forgot to formally “End” the show! Oh, well…